


Pavlovian Coffee

by rhysiana



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Office, Coffee, M/M, The Dangers of Letting Stiles Get Bored At Work, Unrepentant Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 01:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12354792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiana/pseuds/rhysiana
Summary: All Stiles wants is to see Derek Hale smile. Just once. And he has a fool-proof plan: He's going to train to Derek to associate him with delicious caffeine.





	Pavlovian Coffee

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Кофе Павлова](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13118319) by [LonelyLikeACastaway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyLikeACastaway/pseuds/LonelyLikeACastaway)



> Inspired by [a post](http://never-been-sane.tumblr.com/post/160481269303) I saw on Tumblr.

Scott smacked him on the shoulder. “Stop staring. You’re going to end up getting our entire department stuck in a sexual harassment seminar.”

Stiles sighed. “No man that handsome should be that grumpy.”

“You’d be grumpy, too, if you had to be Peter Hale’s assistant. Do your work, Stiles.”

“I’m going to make it my job to see him smile.”

“Do your _actual_ work.”

“Sure, sure,” Stiles said, finally emailing off the spreadsheet he’d finished two hours before. Having an office job, he had found, was really just a giant exercise in figuring out how to waste time so his boss would believe he’d actually put “enough” effort into it. He couldn’t help it if he was efficient.

Now he could spend the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to make Derek Hale smile.

***

“I got it, I’ll do Pavlovian coffee!” Stiles said at the bar after work.

Scott gave him an unimpressed stare. “Didn’t that just result in the barista hating you last time? I’m pretty sure they started spitting in your drinks.”

Stiles waved a dismissive hand. “That’s just because Lydia Martin had a stupidly complicated order in high school. The theory is still sound. I’ll just bring him coffee until he associates me with delicious caffeine, and then I’ll get to see him smile.”

“At which point your life will be complete?”

“Yes,” Stiles said decisively, picking up his beer again with a blissful smile.

Scott shook his head. “You’re so weird. You need a hobby.” But then Allison from the third floor arrived and he got thoroughly distracted, leaving Stiles to contemplate his perfect plan in peace.

***

It would have been a more perfect plan if he’d actually known what Derek drank, coffee-wise. He looked kind of like a black coffee kind of guy, at least on the surface, but Stiles could only respect a black coffee drinker with firm opinions about beans and brew times, and he didn’t know Derek well enough for that, so instead he decided to go with whatever daily special latte seemed the most happy-making when he was standing in line. Until he figured out Derek’s favorite, at least.

He’d started a spreadsheet on his phone to record the data and everything. He was ready.

***

**Day 1: Caramel macchiato**

“Here you go!”

Derek’s brows furrowed as he looked between the cup and Stiles. “What.”

Stiles grinned. “Was that meant to be a question? It’s coffee.”

“I can see that. Why is there coffee?”

“Seemed like you might need it. Gotta get to my desk. Bye!”

Stiles hid around the corner long enough to see Derek look around suspiciously and then take a cautious sip of the coffee.

 **Results:** Step 1 success! Took the coffee. Mostly looked confused. No smile.

***

**Day 2: Pumpkin spice latte**

“Happy autumn!”

Derek let his eyebrows do the asking. Stiles had never had a more effective “what the hell are you talking about?” leveled at him.

“Pumpkin spice season started today,” he explained.

“Who even are you?”

“Stiles. I work on this floor. You’ve seen me before.”

“Yeah, yesterday.”

“Whoops, gotta run!”

 **Results:** Slight nose wrinkle. Does not appear to be a PSL fan. No smile.

***

**Day 3: Mocha**

“Hump day. Gotta power through it!”

“Seriously, why are you doing this? Did you lose a bet or something?”

Stiles blinked. Not having any obvious reason to suddenly start delivering Derek coffee might have been a slight oversight in his plan. Whoops. “Uh, no, I just…”

“DEREK! Where is that file?”

Derek grabbed the coffee, took a fortifying swallow, then gathered a bunch of papers off his desk and disappeared into Peter’s office.

 **Results:** No noticeable reaction to the flavor. No smile.

***

**Day 4: Vanilla latte w/extra shot**

“Almost to Friday! There’s an extra shot in there to help you make it.”

“Uh, thanks.”

“No problem, man.”

“Did my sisters put you up to this?”

“You’re a very suspicious person, did anyone ever tell you that?”

“You’re very weird, did anyone ever tell you that?”

“All the time, I assure you.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised.”

 **Results:** May have spotted the tiniest uptick on the left side of mouth. Inconclusive.

***

**Day 5: Raspberry white chocolate mocha**

“Happy Friday!”

“Jesus, is there actually even coffee in this?”

“Yup, I swear.” Stiles held up three fingers solemnly.

Derek looked at him with extreme cynicism. “You were never a Boy Scout.”

“Where’s the trust?”

Derek raised an eyebrow as he took another sip. Nobody could resist raspberry white chocolate.

“Okay, fine, it’s true. I was never a Boy Scout. But I would never lie about caffeine content.”

“Mm-hmm.”

 **Results:** Definite small quirk on the left side. No real smile yet.

***

**Day 8: Flat white**

“I hear they’re all the rage in Australia!”

“Why do you even know that?”

“William Gibson wrote a blog post about it.”

Derek nodded.

Stiles’ eyes lit up. “You actually know who that is!”

Now Derek looked offended. “Of course I do. I’m not illiterate.”

“What’s your favorite book?”

 ** **Results** :** Forgot to check his reaction to the coffee. Was 10 minutes late to my desk. Got caught talking about the branch universes in _The Peripheral_. No smile. (Yet.)

***

**Day 11: Almond Joy latte**

“Are you _sure_ there’s coffee in this?”

“Good, right? I’d never tried it before, but I have a theory now that all coffee drinks named after candy bars are good.”

“Yeah, because you really seem like you need to be hopped up on tons of sugar in addition to caffeine.”

“I’ll have you know I’m a delight.”

“Get off my desk.”

 ** **Results** :** Scoffed at my candy bar coffee theory, but did _not_ give it back when I offered to drink the rest of it for him. Mouth shape was something other than a flat line.

***

**Day 15: Iced Milky Way**

“This is iced. And enormous.”

“Yup, but I had to bring you another data point in support of my candy bar coffee hypothesis.”

Derek squinted at the logo on the side of the cup. “It’s from some other place.”

“Yeah, I went to the coffee shop over near my dad’s station instead. Had to bring you further proof.”

Derek took another long sip from his straw. “It’s good,” he admitted grudgingly.

Stiles slapped Derek’s desk and pointed at him in triumph. “Hah! I knew it!”

 ** **Results** :** Glared at me, but his heart didn’t seem in it. Candy bar theory prevails. No actual smile.

***

**Day 17: Salted caramel latte**

“So things must be going well with Derek, huh?” Scott asked, interrupting Stiles before he could input his notes for the day.

“Hmmm? I mean, pretty well, I guess, but I still haven’t seen him smile yet,” Stiles replied without looking up.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, buddy, he’s a tough nut to crack.”

“No, I mean, he smiles every time he has to pass our cubicles now.”

Stiles whipped around to stare at him. “What?! Since when?”

“I dunno, at least a week now.”

“How did I not know this?”

“You’ve been working on that big stats project and had your headphones on. I thought you knew!”

“But… but I didn’t even have any coffee with me then. And he’s never smiled directly at me in the mornings.” He looked back at his phone, scrolling through his notes. “My experimental method must be flawed. Or he’s been smiling about something completely unrelated.” He looked back up at Scott in horror. “What if someone else got to him first? I mean, not that I begrudge anyone who can get Derek Hale to smile, but dammit, I had a plan!”

“I don’t know, seems to have been pretty effective,” said a voice behind him.

Stiles slowly swiveled around to where, yes, Derek was standing right behind him. He swallowed. “Uh, hey there, Derek.”

“I’m glad I finally solved the mystery of why you suddenly started bringing me coffee.”

“I wasn’t trying to be creepy or anything, I swear! I just…”

“Wanted to see me smile?”

“Yeah? I mean, it’s not like you don’t already know I’m weird by this point. It was just, you were always, _always_ frowning whenever I saw you, and I figured coffee would be a good way to…” He trailed off in a flurry of useless gestures.

And Derek smiled.

It was just as glorious as Stiles had known it would be, like the sun breaking through clouds. It warmed him through and woke him up, like the first sip of coffee in the morning. It took his breath away.

“Scott’s right, you know. I have been smiling more lately.” He leaned forward to look Stiles directly in the eyes. “And it’s not because of the coffee.”

“Oh, really?” Stiles said faintly.

“Really.” Derek sat on the edge of Stiles’ desk and leaned back against his cube wall. “There’s this guy, you see, who stops by and talks to me about the most random topics every morning. For no apparent reason other than to try to make my day better.”

“Well, he sounds pretty great.”

“I dunno, I don’t really know him that well. Further research may be required.”

“Yeah? And how do you propose to go about it?”

“I’m hoping to take him to dinner.”

“That seems like excellent methodology.”

“Glad to hear it. Meet you here at six?”

Stiles smiled for the rest of the day.

Derek smiled at Stiles so many times after work he lost count. He even laughed. Stiles suspected his life would never be the same.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [Tumblr](https://rhysiana.tumblr.com) if you are interested in an random assortment of things and fics that seem to focus on coffee an undue amount.


End file.
